


For all the things my hands have held the best by far is you.

by CristinaBlackthornKingson



Series: Red White and Royal Blue, The Next Generation. [4]
Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: Bisexual Character, Bisexual Character of Color, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Female Character of Color, Bisexual Male Character, Bisexuality, Brother Feels, Brother-Sister Relationships, Brotherhood, Brotherly Love, Brothers, Canon Bisexual Character, Canon Character of Color, Canon Gay Character, Canon Queer Character of Color, Character(s) of Color, Childbirth, Childhood, Childhood Memories, Children, Children of Characters, F/F, F/M, Family, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Family Issues, Father-Daughter Relationship, Father-Son Relationship, Female Character of Color, First Time Parents, Gay Character, Gay Male Character, Gay Parents, Gen, Homophobia, LGBTQ Character of Color, LGBTQ Female Character of Color, M/M, Male Character of Color, Multi, Newborn Children, Next-Gen, Other, Parent-Child Relationship, Podcast, Pregnancy, Protective Parents, Racism, Same-Sex Marriage, Social Media, Surrogacy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:33:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27762307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CristinaBlackthornKingson/pseuds/CristinaBlackthornKingson
Summary: Alex and Henry welcome their first baby and announce the news to their loved ones, as well as the public.
Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz & June Claremont-Diaz, Alex Claremont-Diaz & Liam, Alex Claremont-Diaz & Nora Holleran, Alex Claremont-Diaz & Oscar Diaz, Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Beatrice Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor & Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Catherine Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor & Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Ellen Claremont/Leo, Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor & Martha Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor & Percy "Pez" Okonjo, Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor & Philip Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor & Shaan Srivastava, Martha Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor/Philip Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Oscar Diaz & Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Zahra Bankston/Shaan Srivastava
Series: Red White and Royal Blue, The Next Generation. [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1996159
Comments: 6
Kudos: 54





	For all the things my hands have held the best by far is you.

**Author's Note:**

> **TW/CW**
> 
> Talk of infertility/ struggling to conceive.   
> Racism.   
> Mention of panic attacks.  
> Inappropriate sexual comments.   
> Biphobia.   
> Invasive questions.

It is a cold January day in 2024, when Henry and Alex are both No.1 on trending on practically every social media platform, for the 4th time in their lives. 

The first was 4 years ago when they were outed by Jeffery Richards, The second was 3 years ago, when they got engaged, the third was 2 years ago when they got married, and the fourth, today is because of the announcement they posted on Instagram this morning. 

All around the world people opened their Instagram accounts, to be met with two pictures, posted by both Henry and Alex. 

The first is a picture of David, standing next to a letter board. The letter board spells out 

**_‘My dads are gettin’ me a hooman!’_ **

Sitting in front of the letter board is a pair of tiny white baby shoes. 

The next photo is of Alex and Henry, sharing a loving kiss and holding a pretty clear ultrasound picture between them. 

The caption simply reads 

**_‘Less sleep, more love! Baby Claremont-Diaz-Windsor, coming July 2024.’_ **

Only 5 people in Alex and Henry’s lives knew this already, before the official announcement, those people being Henry and Alex themselves, their surrogate and close friend Sierra Garcia, and Zahra and Shaan, since they had to help out with all the NDAs from the doctors at the fertility clinic, the psychologist who Sierra went to see before proceeding with the surrogacy, and many other people. 

They hadn’t told anyone else for fear of something going wrong, Alex had of course driven himself to the brink of many, many panic attacks, researching everything and anything that could go wrong, especially within the first trimester, so he and Henry decided to keep the news to themselves until Sierra was at least 13 weeks, and with Sierra’s agreement, decided to have weekly checkups until 14 weeks, they could afford the extra cost of it and the money it costs is more than worth it to ensure both Sierra and the baby’s health.

Thankfully everything has gone smoothly so far, Sierra’s pregnancy is low risk and both she and baby are always very healthy, Sierra doesn’t even feel that sick or tired, they only strong pregnancy symptoms/side-effects she’s having are cravings and heightened sense of smell. 

Just 10 minutes after posting the announcement, while out for a walk with Henry and David, Alex gets a message notification from the family group chat, from his mom.

**Wednesday at 11:15.**

**Ellen**

_**Family meeting, White House, Game room, @ 5:00 P.M. this evening. I cannot believe I just found out I’m gonna be a grandma through goddamn Instagram, and now I have to go into a meeting with the Prime Minister of Ireland to talk about the exchange visitor program, you kids will be the death of me. You three have any announcements I need to know of, Catalina, Nora, Percy?’** _

Alex laughs lightly, they probably should have at least told his mom, she hates being kept int the dark about these things and is clearly not impressed, especially when she just full-named Pez. June and Alex always know their mom is being serious when she calls them ‘Alexander’ and ‘Catalina’. 

“Oof mom just full-named Pez in the family group chat, and she called June ‘Catalina’.” Alex laughs. 

“Why them and not you?” Henry asks, as David tugs hard on his leash at the sight of another dog. 

“She wants to make sure they don’t have a surprise announcement of their own before she goes into her next meeting.”

Just then another message pings through to the group chat.

**11:17**

**Nora.**

**_June cut her hair short to spite some guy online and I’ve never been more in love, does that count?_ **

**11:18**

**Ellen.**

**_White House. Game Room. 5:00 P.M. Be there or deal with me in both angry mom mode and angry President mode._ **

“Hey babe.” Alex says. “You up for a trip to Washington where my mom will yell at us for keeping the pregnancy a secret?” 

“Do we have a choice?” 

“Nope.”

They finish their walk then head home to start on lunch. Just as Henry lets David out for another run, and Alex starts cooking, Henry’s phone starts to buzz with an incoming FaceTime call from Bea. He grins and answers the call.

When he does, he sees Bea with her hair swept up into a messy bun at the back of her head, dressed in a black graphic print t-shirt, black leggings and a red and black plaid jacket on over her t-shirt. Sitting beside her is Catherine, her hair loose around her shoulders, her glasses pushed up into her hair, she is wearing a simple dark green woolen jumper with blue jeans, you would hardly recognize her as Princess Catherine, the future Queen of England. 

“Henry!” Bea exclaims. “I’m going to be an aunty again?!” Henry grins at her excitement and nods. 

“Yes, in about six months, third grandbaby for you mum.” He replies. 

“Oh I simply can’t wait to meet this little one, though I can still hardly believe any of the 3 of you are old enough to be having babies of your own.” Catherine sighs, delighted at the news of her new grandchild on the way, but still a little bittersweet over how grown up her own babies are.

“You have to tell us absolutely everything! Are you having a boy or a girl, are you doing surrogacy? Who’s your surrogate? Will the baby be born here or there? Do you have names picked out?” Bea eagerly asks in an excited tone, which makes Henry laugh, as he walks over to Alex and slips an arm around his waist. 

“Yes we’re doing surrogacy, our surrogate is our friend Sierra Garcia, you’ve both met her before, at our wedding.” Henry explains. 

“Ooh is she the chef?” Bea asks, remembering meeting a very pretty girl with lots of thick and dark black hair, almost black eyes, brown skin and an extremely attractive accent, who Bea may or may not have flirted on and off with. 

“Yep, she made our wedding cake and threatened to kill us if we destroyed it by falling into it.” Alex laughs, turning his attention away from the stove.

“Oh yes I remember her!” Catherine says in a bright tone. “Oh she’s a lovely girl, how has she been doing the last few months? First pregnancies can be very tough.” 

“She’s pretty good actually, hardly any sickness or fatigue, just a heightened sense of smell and some weird cravings.” Alex replies in a cheerful tone.

“You have to invite her to my birthday dinner next month, it’ll be so boring without her!” Bea exclaims, remembering the fun she had with Sierra at Henry and Alex’s wedding. Both of them are sober, Bea because of her history with addiction and Sierra because of religious reasons, so they really got to bond and become good friends, only trouble being they didn’t exchange numbers and Sierra isn’t on social media, so they had no way of staying in touch bar the few other times they met up at family events. 

Henry, Alex, Catherine and Bea talk for another half an hour or so, talking all things baby related, from names to Godparents, to whether or not the baby will have a presence on social media or not, and much more. 

An hour after lunch, Henry gets another incoming FaceTime call, this time from Philip.

When he answers the phone, Henry sees Philip sitting beside Martha in one of the living rooms of Anmer Hall, Philip holding the phone while Martha holds a sleeping baby in her arms, their 5 month olds son George, their second child, 2 years younger than their eldest son Edward. 

“Hey.” Henry happily greets them, sitting down at the kitchen table next to Alex. 

“Hi, congratulations!” Martha beams, her excitement very clear to see.

“We’re thrilled for you.” Philip adds “You’re going to be wonderful parents.” Henry and Alex share a grin. 

“Thanks Pip, I hope so.” Henry says. His biggest hope is that he can be as good a dad as his father was to Henry, Philip and Bea, and as good a dad as Oscar is to Alex and June. 

“You will be, you’re so wonderful with Eddie and George, you’ll be even more wonderful with your own child.” Philip assures him, remembering feeling that nervous and afraid when Martha was pregnant with Edward. “Are you adopting, or did you hire a surrogate?” 

“Surrogacy, you remember our friend Sierra, right? She made Alex and I’s wedding cake, and did the catering for Eddie’s baptism?” Henry asks. 

“Yes, she’s lovely, and did such a wonderful job of the catering the baptism.” Martha softly says, remembering the excellent service Sierra provided. 

“Well she’s our surrogate, we couldn’t have asked for someone better honestly, we’re really honored and thrilled that she offered.” Henry fondly says, slipping his free hand into Alex’s. 

“We’ve actually been trying for almost a year now, this was our third round of IVF, we were almost ready to give up, that’s why we kept it a secret until now, that and the fear of miscarriage.” Alex tells them. 

“Oh I’m so sorry to hear that.” Martha gently says. 

“If you ever need to talk about it we know what it’s like, we never told anyone but it took us a long time to conceive Edward, we were just about to turn to fertility treatment before we found out Maz was pregnant, and even then we were so scared something would happen.” Philip confides in them, slipping his free hand into Martha’s. 

“And before you even try, you don’t need to apologize or anything, we got through it together and we have Eddie now, and George, we didn’t struggle at all to have George and hopefully we won’t struggle again with the next one. Just know that if you ever need to talk, we’re here.” Martha firmly says. 

Henry and Alex spend the time while talking to Philip and Martha. After that, they both spend a few hours on work, both of them being able to work from home thankfully, though Alex does go into the office on most days, he’ll be working from home a lot more once the baby arrives. 

Soon they start to head out for DC, leaving David in the loving care of the old lady who lives next to them, who they’ve become good friends with over the last 4 years. 

Once they arrive at The White House and are cleared by security, they head up to the games room where they’re greeted by practically everyone on Alex’s side of the family, his mom and dad, Leo, June, Nora and Pez. 

“Okay but how did our family start out with four of us and now there’s 8 of us?” Alex laughs, looking around him at his considerably large family. 

“It’s about to get even bigger judging by your Instagram posts.” June points out, making Alex grin widely. 

“And I can’t wait!” June smiles back and gets up from her seat on one of the sofas, to pull Henry and Alex into a tight hug. 

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me I’m going to be a _Tía!_ ” June exclaims. 

“Yeah you tell us everything else, why keep this a secret for so long?” Nora asks. 

“We had some trouble conceiving, this was our third round of IVF and our last embryo, so we were really worried it wouldn’t work out and we didn’t want to have to explain it all if things didn’t work out.” Alex tells her.

“And just who is your surrogate? And egg donor?” Ellen asks, hoping that her dumbass of a son didn’t choose an inappropriate donor and surrogate. 

“Our friend Sierra, Sierra Garcia. And before you start planning your PowerPoint presentation mom, don’t worry we went through this the proper way, Sierra was happy to see a psychologist and undergo a physical health screening as well, and everything is fine, the psychologist agrees that she’s a good candidate for surrogacy.” Alex calmly explains, his arm now around Henry’s waist. 

“Can we met her?” Oscar asks, wanting to know the person who is going to provide his first grandchild with half their DNA, and also carry and give birth to his grandchild. 

“You already have, at H and I’s wedding, though it was brief because Sierra was managing the catering and was super busy.” Alex tells his father. 

“Though I’m sure Sierra would be happy to meet you all again, she’s going to be a big part of the baby’s life so it would be lovely if you all got to know her.” Henry says, thinking of when would be a good time for Sierra to meet he and Alex’s families again. 

They spend the next couple of hours talking, mostly about the baby and Sierra but about some other things too, like Henry’s most recent book, Pez’s new charity for trans youth, and Oscar’s re-election to the Senate. 

In the end they agree to stay over night, texting their neighbor Kathy, to make sure she’s okay with keeping David overnight (which she thankfully is.) 

Thorough out the rest of the day they get so many responses to the pregnancy announcement. Cash and Amy congratulate them in person, Cash offering up baby name ideas and Amy telling them that she’ll make a blanket and some clothes for the baby. Later in the afternoon Zahra and Shaan show up and congratulate them both. Shaan is clearly thrilled for them both, and at one point pulls Henry aside to give him a hug and assure him he’s going to be a great father and Shaan is there for him if he ever needs him. 

They also get a message from Liam and Spencer, who are also thrilled for them and think it’s wonderful that they’re normalizing same-sex families.

It’s not until after dinner that they receive their most dreaded response. 

They are just cleaning up after dinner, when Henry’s phone starts to ring, ‘Private Caller’ showing up on screen in place of a phone number. There’s not very many people in Henry’s life who have his mobile number who would be calling from a private number. 

“Hello?” Henry answers, already knowing who is on the other end of the line. 

“Henry.” Queen Mary’s voice rings in his ear. “I need to speak with you, and that... that boy of yours.” Henry roles his eyes. 

“You know Alex’s name Gran, and he’s not ‘my boy’ he’s my husband.” He tells her. 

“Yes well I need to speak to you both, about that announcement you posted on social media this morning.” Henry and Alex have now stepped into an empty room and Henry has put the phone on speaker. 

“Are you happy that Henry’s finally producing Heirs, Your Majesty?” Alex can’t hold himself back from asking. 

“No I most certainly am not.” Queen Mary sharply replies. 

“Why not? It seemed to be a huge deal to you when Henry and I first got together, you even wanted Henry to marry a woman and have kids with her and have me on the side.” Alex calmly says, even though he wants to yell at the old bitch. 

“I am not pleased because this is not how Royals announce a pregnancy. You also should have told me you were proceeding with surrogacy, and involved me in the selecting of a surrogate, who is this woman?” 

“Sierra Garcia, our friend.” Henry wants to give his Gran as little information as possible. 

“Just from her name alone I know she is an unacceptable choice, it’s one thing to fancy yourself in love with an immigrant Henry but another altogether to have one have your child!” Henry and Alex share a pissed off look. 

“I’m not an immigrant.” Alex reminds her. “And neither is Sierra, both her parents are from Cuba, they moved here a year before they had Sierra, she was born in Florida then moved to New York for college which is where I met her and we became friends.” 

“And frankly Gran it’s absolutely non of your business who carries our child, that decision was up to Alex and I and we are both very happy with the choice we made.” Henry firmly says. 

“For Goodness sake Henry not just anyone can be the mother of an heir!” Mary exclaims in an exasperated tone, which really pisses Henry and Alex off. 

“Sierra is not our baby’s mother, our baby doesn’t have a mum she has two dads, carrying and birthing a child does not automatically make you a mum. Our baby will know Sierra and the role she played in their conception and that she carried them, but she’ll be like an Aunt to them, just like Bea, Martha, June or Nora, she is _not_ the baby’s mother.” Henry grits out in an angry, irritated tone.

“Well I must meet her, I need to know exactly what this girl is like and I can only do that in person.” Mary says. Henry and Alex right away know this is not going to happen, Sierra has expressed to them before that she does not want to meet Mary, she’s been the target of racism and queerphobia enough, she doesn’t need it from The Queen of England. 

“No that won’t be happening, Sierra doesn’t want to meet you Gran, she’s had enough bullying and harassment from others, she doesn’t need it from you too, and we respect her choice. You need to clean up your act and become a better person if you want anything to do with my daughter, Queen or not you’re not going to treat my child the way you treated me, I will not let that happen.” And with that, Henry hangs up.

Over the next couple of months, Henry and Alex agree to a lot of interviews, though most of the time they wish they hadn’t, as a lot of the questions are extremely inappropriate and invasive. 

Their first interview is with ** _E! News_ **who they’ve had okay experiences with in the past, however this time it’s a bit of a nightmare.

“So a lot of us want to know, did you forgo all the expensive fertility treatments and just do it the old natural way?” The interviewer asks, 10 minutes into the interview, shocking Henry and Alex. 

“Uh, the baby is mine biologically and I’m very, very gay.” Henry says in a hoarse tone. 

“Yeah but come on, you’re telling me you’ve never been even a little bit curious about women? And Alex you’re bisexual, surely you’d be up for showing Henry the ropes when it comes to sex with a woman?” How the hell did these questions get approved? 

“Alright that’s enough, this interview is over, delete any recordings you got in the last 20 minutes, these are not the questions we agreed on so expect to hear from Alex’s legal team.” Zahra’s stern tone interrupts everything, as she thrusts her coffee mug at Shaan and strides over and onto set, making Henry and Alex relax. 

“And Henry’s, I did not approve these questions either, they are totally inappropriate and down right offensive and rude, you have no business asking anybody those sorts of questions, let alone America’s First Son and The Prince of England.” Shaan firmly says, setting Zahra’s cup down and following his wife onto the set. 

“We’re just having a little fun!” The interviewer defends herself. 

“Maybe you are, but we’re not.” Alex says, taking his mic off. 

“I’ll make sure they delete any recordings they got so far, you and Cash make sure Henry and Alex get to the car hassle free.” Zahra says to Shaan, who nods in agreement. 

A few weeks later they are sitting in another interview, this time with a daytime TV talk show host, things seem to be going smooth, until the end when the inappropriate questions start. 

“So I gotta ask.” The host begins. “How come you didn’t have Alex be the bio dad and Princess Bea be your surrogate and donor, or with Henry being the dad have June be your donor and surrogate? That way the baby would be biologically related to you both.” 

“Um.” Henry begins. “Because our sisters aren’t baby making machines, they have lives of their own and neither want to be pregnant right now, or be an egg donor.” 

“Also we don’t give a shit if the baby is biologically related to us or not, we’re going to adopt in the future, we did surrogacy this time because it felt like the right choice, not because of some innate desire to have a bio kid.” Alex adds.

Henry reaches over and squeezes his hand, which calms him down a considerable amount. He is so tired of all these ridiculously personal and insulting questions, not only from professionals but from fans too, a lot of people seem to feel entitled to know everything about the pregnancy and baby, a lot of people are angry that Henry and Alex are keeping Sierra anonymous (at her request) and have even started spreading absurd rumors. 

They get through the rest of the interview and are absolutely relieved once they can leave. 

After that they decide to take a break from interviews for the next couple of months and just focus on preparing for the baby. 

When Sierra is 7 months pregnant, both Henry and Alex get a message in their Instagram DMs from a woman named Jamie Clayton, who co-hosts a podcast with her friend Lily Hopkins. The podcast is about LGBTQ+ families, parenting in particular. Jamie and Lily themselves are both lesbian, both married and both have kids, Jamie has 2 kids and Lily has 1. 

In Jamie’s message she invites Alex and Henry onto her and Lily’s Podcast (Called _‘The Parenting Academy')_ to speak about their experience as expectant dads and how they plan to raise their child, especially as two very well known people. Jamie explains that usually they don’t have a pre-set list of questions, they usually just talk and chat with their guests, but is more than happy to be given a list of questions that are off the table, and both she and Lily as well as their wives who help produce the podcast, are more than willing to sign NDAs. 

Before responding, Henry and Alex listen to a few episodes of _The Parenting Academy,_ and are soon totally hooked and know this will get them through the first few tough days of parenthood. 

They quickly reply to Jamie’s message and agree to be on the podcast, then quickly contact Shaan and Zahra to have the NDAs drawn up and posted to Jamie and Lily.

Two weeks later Henry and Alex find themselves sitting in a recording studio just twenty minutes from their brownstone apartment, listening as Jamie and Lily do their usual intro, before introducing Henry and Alex. 

“Hi friends!” Lily begins in her cheerful and friendly tone. “Welcome back to _The Parenting Academy,_ with me Lily Hopkins.” 

“And me Jamie Clayton.” 

“Where we talk all things LGBTQ+, marriage, kids and family. 

Oh my god Jamie how excited are you for today’s episode?” 

“Don’t act as if you don’t know that I’ve been practically shitting myself with excitement all week over this interview.” Jamie laughs, leaning back in her chair. 

“Yeah that’s true you’ve been giddy as hell since I told you my idea for this episode, and folks she has a really good reason to be so excited. Jamie, do you wanna go ahead and tell our lovely lovely listeners who today’s guests are?” 

“Hell yeah I do. Friends, we have here in the recording studio, sitting beside us, FSOTUS and Duke of Sussex Alexander Claremont-Diaz-Windsor and His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Wales!” Jamie excitedly announces, while Lily indicates for Henry and Alex to speak up. 

“Hi, thank you so much for having us here!” Alex says. 

“Honestly you say you’re excited but I think Alex and I are more so, we’re big fans of the show.” Henry adds, grinning when Jamie and Lily exchange an awed look. 

“Really? I had no idea you even knew about our podcast!” Lily says. 

“We didn’t until you messaged us, then we started listening to it and got hooked. We are so so excited to be here!” Henry tells them in an enthusiastic tone. 

They talk for at least 2 hours, discussing everything from baby names, to whether or not the baby will have an online and media presence (she won’t, she can decide to join the online community when she’s old enough to understand it all if she wants, but they won’t be posting pictures of her online or anything.) It is without a doubt the best interview they’ve been through these last few months, and they agree to come back in a few months time to discuss what it’s like for them as first time dads.

2 weeks after recording with Jamie and Lily, Alex and Henry head up to DC for a few days to celebrate Ellen and Leo’s anniversary. June, Nora and Pez will be there too, as well as Sierra, Shaan, Zahra, Cash, Amy and her wife Claudia, who are all like family to Ellen and Leo.

2 hours into the celebration, Ellen notices Sierra standing by the open balcony doors, one hand clutching the door frame and the other cradling her bump. Ellen glances at her watch and notices that Sierra has been standing there for the better part of 15 minutes, which isn’t like her. At every other family celebration she’s been invited to in the last few months, she’s always been eager to help out with the cooking and wanting to get to know Alex’s side of the family better, always chatting with someone. 

“I’ll be back in a minute, I want to go check on Sierra.” Ellen quietly tells Leo, lightly touching his arm as she is filled with a motherly worry. 

“Is she alright?” Leo asks in a concerned tone, following Ellen’s gaze to Sierra. 

“I don’t know, that’s why I want to check on her.” Ellen gives her husband a brief kiss on the cheek before walking up to Sierra. 

“You okay sugar? You’ve been standing over here for a while now and normally you’re the life and soul of the party.” She gently asks, her concern growing when Sierra looks at her and Ellen sees how pale she is.

“I-I’m not sure.” Sierra says in a breathy tone. Before Ellen can reply, Sierra’s face contorts in pain and she lets out a small cry of pain, clutching her stomach. 

“How long have you been having pains?” Ellen gently asks, holding her hand out to Sierra to help her straighten up. 

“I’ve had 2 contraction like pains in the last hour, but my back has been killing me all week and I’ve been so tired the last week too, way more than I’ve ever been before.” Sierra explains in a breathy tone.

“That’s exactly how I felt when I went into labor with June, the first couple of contractions were hours apart but they soon got closer together, she was born in 4 hours. I don’t think a dinner party is the best place for you right now, do you?” Ellen calmly explains, rubbing soothing circles on Sierra’s back. Sierra shakes her head. 

“I wanna sit down somewhere quiet, and call my midwife.” She tells Ellen, who nods understandingly. 

“Of course darlin’ of course, should we tell Henry and Alex too? Don’t worry I’ll keep them from bothering you if you need some time alone, but maybe they should know it might be time?” Ellen suggests. 

“I don’t mind them being with me, I just don’t want to be in a crowd right now, but before you do can you help me to somewhere quiet where I can sit, please?” Sierra hopefully asks, looking at Ellen with pleading eyes. 

“Oh sugar of course I will, in actual fact we can do both at the same time. June! June come’er a second honey’.” Ellen calls for her daughter when she sees her walking past. 

“What’s up? You okay Sierra?” June asks in a concerned tone, coming up to stand with her mother and friend. 

“I think I’m in labor.” Sierra weakly says. June’s eyes grow wide. 

“Bug can you go tell Alex and Henry please? While I help Sierra to your old room so she can sit somewhere comfortable and quiet?” Ellen asks. June nods. 

“Yeah of course! I’m on it!” So while Ellen calmly and slowly leads Sierra out of the room, June looks around for her brother and brother in-law. She spots Henry first, clearing off the table with Pez. 

“Henry, where’s Alex?” June asks, hurrying up to her boyfriend, and brother-in-law. 

“Over at the sink with Nora, why, is everything alright, where’s Sierra?” Henry asks in a concerned tone, looking around for his friend. 

“She’s in my old room, she thinks she’s in labor.” Henry’s eyes widen and he lets go of the plate he is holding, though luckily Pez catches it.

“B-but she’s not due for two more weeks!” Henry protests in horror. 

“Babes you know what the midwife said, most babies aren’t born exactly on their due date, it’s usually 15 days before or 15 days after.” Pez reminds Henry, placing a steadying hand on his friend’s shoulder. 

“I-I know but I... we’re not ready! We don’t have the bassinet set up o-or formula, all we have are clothes, dummies, lots of stuffed toys and diapers, the crib isn’t set up either!” Henry stresses, raking his hands through his hair. 

“Hen, relax mate. You _are_ ready, your ready to be a dad, your ready to give your little girl all the love and care in the world. You’ll be in hospital with her a couple days, so while you are, Nora, June and I will get everything at the apartment organised, right love?” Pez asks, turning to June, who nods. 

“Absolutely, leave all that to us, go get Alex and go take Sierra to the hospital, go have a baby!” 

“Yeah, yeah okay, thank you both.” Henry pulls both of his friends in for a quick embrace, before hurrying over to Alex, who is arguing with Nora over who AOC is going to pick as her VP, now she’s running for office. 

“She’s obviously gonna pick Bernie, they’re the dream team!” Alex is saying. Nora scoffs and rolls her eyes. 

“Look, I love Bernie as much as the next person, but the dude’s old Alex, really old, statistically speaking it’s way more likely that he’s going to retire soon and have a nice and peaceful life. AOC is obviously going to pick Ilhan as her VP.” Nora argues back.

“Statistically speaking you’re an ass.” Nora shoves her middle finger in Alex’s face, which is when Henry seizes the opportunity to intervene. 

“Alex.” He grabs his husband’s hand “We have to go, it’s Sierra, she thinks she’s in labor.” 

“Oh shit!” Alex exclaims, throwing his damp tea-towel down. “Where is she? Does she have her hospital bags with her? Fuck do we have our hospital bags?” 

“She’s in June’s old room, I don’t know if she has her bags and yes we have our bags, I made sure to pack them before we left.” 

When they call The Midwife to ask what to do, whether to travel back to NY or go the hospital here in DC where Julie (The midwife) has a friend who can deliver the baby.

Between them it’s decided that it would be best for Sierra to go to the hospital here in DC, Julie will start driving down from NY now, and hopefully be able to make it before baby comes. 

Henry and Alex grab their bags as well as Sierra’s from her room (Normally she would stay in a hotel or Air B&B but Ellen insisted she stay at The White House, she’s not only a dear family friend now but also carrying Ellen’s first grandchild and she wants her to have around the clock help and support.) and load up their car, which Cash will be driving, with Shaan and Amy following behind in a separate car. 

Thankfully unlike when Martha went into labor and arrived at St. Mary’s in London, there are no crowds camped outside the hospital in DC, waiting for a glimpse of Sierra or Henry and Alex. People aren’t expecting her to deliver in DC, in fact nobody knows the location of the delivery, Henry and Alex only confirmed that the baby would be born here in The States, but not which state or which hospital. 

Sierra is admitted quickly and is very thankful when her Midwife Emily introduces herself and talks to Sierra for a bit and asks permission before doing an examination to check if she’s in labor or not.

After a quick pelvic exam Emily confirms that Sierra’s pains are in fact contractions and she’s already at 3cm. Since she’s low risk, Sierra is free to move about during her labor, with Emily happy to use a Doppler to check on baby’s heartbeat, instead of confining Sierra to the bed with a monitor.

There’s no doubting that the pain is intense and difficult to get through, but Sierra is determined to get through it with as little intervention as possible, only accepting gas and air for pain relief.

“You doing okay Si?” Alex gently asks, 4 hours into the labor, as Sierra braces herself against Henry’s shoulders and sways her hips from side to side to help with the pain. Sierra lifts her head and glares at Alex. 

“Your big headed baby is about to pass through my fucking vagina Alex, of course I’m not doing okay!” she snaps. Henry and Alex exchange a surprised look, Sierra has never snapped at them or lost her temper with them before, never in their 3 years of knowing each other. 

“Hey it’s not my fault if the baby has a big head, I’m not the bio dad, blame Henry!” Alex defends himself, earning a withering look from his husband. 

“I do, I blame both of you! I can’t fucking believe I agreed to do this, Henry I swear to god if you try to rub my back one more time I will personally see to it that Edward becomes third in line for the throne because you’ll be fucking dead!” Henry immediately pulls his hands back and holds them up in surrender. 

“Sorry, sorry!” 

2 hours later and Sierra is well on her way to finally bringing the baby into the world. She is utterly exhausted so has opted to lie in bed, though not flat on her back, rather propped up in a half sitting position with pillows behind her to support her, with Henry and Alex standing either side of her. Sierra is gripping Henry’s hand tightly, while Alex wipes the seat off her forehead with a washcloth, helps her keep her hair out of her eyes, etc. He and Henry both offer all the emotional support they possibly can.

Finally, after an hour of hard-core pushing, Sierra feels the baby slip out into the midwife’s hands, her heart lifting when the baby lets out a sharp wail. 

“Well done Sierra, you’re absolutely amazing, well done!” Henry says in joyful, tearful tone, squeezing her hand and pressing a kiss to the back of her hand, tears of joy rolling down his face as the midwife passes the baby up to Sierra, laying her on her chest and covering baby with a blanket, just as was written in Sierra’s birth plan. 

“Oh, oh she’s so tiny.” Sierra says in a breathy tone, looking down at the squirming, crying baby on her chest. “I-I can’t believe she just came out of me, I mean... look at her face, I made that face, and these little hands and her nose and everything else, I... I made her.” 

“You did.” Alex agrees “And you did such an awesome job, she’s so perfect.” 

“Dads, would one of you like to cut the cord?” The Midwife asks, looking up at Henry and Alex. 

“You do it H, I know you want to.” Alex grins, earning a sheepish smile from Henry. 

“Are you sure? I won’t be upset or anything if you want to.” 

“Oh my god Henry do it or soon she’ll be big enough to do it herself.” Sierra jokes, resting a hand on the baby’s back. Henry laughs and wipes at his tears of joy. 

“Alright, if you insist.” 

"God she’s so beautiful, she looks just like you, Si.” Alex quietly says, stroking the baby’s cheek carefully. 

“She does, but she has Henry’s nose, and his eye shape.” Sierra replies, lightly bopping the baby on the nose, as her cries settle down. 

“She’s perfect, in absolutely every way.” Henry adds, rejoining Sierra and Alex and leaning down to kiss his daughter’s forehead. 

“Do one of you guys wanna hold her now?” Sierra asks, looking up from the baby’s face. 

“Only if you’re sure, you can hold for as long as you want.” Alex says, knowing that though Sierra doesn’t see the baby as her own daughter, she does love her fiercely and wants to be able to bond with her and be involved with her. 

“I’m sure, I’ll get more snuggles with her later, who wants to hold her first?” Sierra asks, carefully gathering the baby up, ready to pass her to Henry or Alex. 

“Alex, I’m the bio dad so Alex should get to hold her first.” Henry decides. 

“For once in my life I’m not going to argue with you!” Alex laughs, happily and cautiously accepting the tiny bundle from Sierra, carefully pulling his daughter close to his chest and adjusting her blankets so he can see her little face. 

Alex’s breath catches in his throat and he feels an intense surge of emotions well up in his chest, he feels completely consumed by love for his daughter, she is so perfect and precious he just wants to cry.

“I get it now.” Alex sniffs, smoothing a hand over the baby’s dark hair. 

“Get what, love?” Henry asks in a confused tone. 

“Why mom and dad are so protective of June and I, why they love us so much. I get why dad said he cried the first time he held June and I, why mom did a full background check on Pez when he started dating June and Nora, why they both put up with our shit. I never fully understood it before, but... I’m a dad now, I have a kid and... god I would kill for her, I would do absolutely anything for Charlotte.” Alex's’ tone is breathy and wobbly, and tears are threatening to spill down his checks. 

“Charlotte? Is that her name?” Sierra softly asks. Alex nods, as Henry slips an arm around his waist and slips the other underneath Alex’s arms, so they’re both cradling their daughter, together. 

“Yes it is, Charlotte Catherine Elena Claremont-Diaz-Windsor.” 

“Oh after your moms?” Sierra asks. 

“Yeah, because they were and are pretty strong and amazing women to wined up with us two idiots as sons and still raise us so that we turned out pretty okay.” Alex laughs, hoping that he and Henry can do as good a job as fathers. 

Two days later, Charlotte has had all her tests and is declared perfectly healthy, and is ready to be discharged from the hospital, which Henry and Alex are very glad of, they are so eager to get back home and settle in with Charlotte and start their lives as a family of 4. 

Before they leave the hospital though they both agree that they should announce Charlotte’s birth to the public. Of course normally this is done by a message from The Queen being put up outside Buckingham Palace, but Henry and Alex are of course going to do it their way, no matter how much of a fuss it will kick up from The Queen. 

Just an hour ago, Shaan arrived to help them pack and drive them back to NY, he and Cash will also help ensure Henry, Alex and Charlotte get out of the hospital and to the car without any haste or danger from spectators who have now gathered outside, after someone from the paparazzi spotted and photographed Pez walking into the hospital with an armful of gifts.

“Have you decided how exactly you wish to go about announcing Her Royal Highness’ birth, yet?” Shaan asks Henry and Alex, as they pack a bag for Charlotte for the car-ride back home, while Shaan holds little Charlotte, who he is already completely infatuated with. 

“Not really, no pictures of her face though, that we know for sure.” Alex says, folding up a onsie and placing it in the bag. 

“We don’t want Charlotte to have a public prescience, I absolutely abhorred being in the public eye as a child, I’m not having Charlotte be blasted and criticized all through her childhood like I was, when she’s older she can make the choice on whether or not to have a public presence.” Henry explains calmly. Shaan nods his understanding. 

“Then may I suggest, perhaps a simple photograph of her hand or something similar? Just enough to show that she is here but not enough for anyone to be able to identify her.” Shaan suggests, thinking of how he would go about this if he were in Henry and Alex’s position. He and Zahra have already agreed that if they have children they will have no online presence, it is simply far too dangerous. 

“I like that.” Alex agrees. “Simple and effective, what about you H?” 

“Sounds good to me.” 

So with Shaan’s help, they manage to capture the perfect picture of Charlotte’s little hand wrapped around Alex’s finger, with his wedding ring in clear view. They then layer a black and white filter over the photo to make it look more professional and official, before uploading it to Kensington Palace’s official Instagram page, with the following caption. 

**_“At 4:02 P.M. on July 21st 2024, Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte Catherine Elena Claremont-Diaz-Windsor made her grand entrance into the world, weighing a healthy 7lbs 8oz. She is perfect and beautiful beyond words and we simply could not be more delighted to have her here in our arms. We are completely and utterly in love.  
_ **

**_\- HRH Prince Henry and FSOTUS and Duke of Sussex, Alex.”_ **

A few hours later after saying goodbye for now to Sierra, Henry, Alex and Charlotte are escorted out the side of the hospital where very few people spot them, while everyone is very careful to ensure Charlotte’s face can’t be seen. 

On the long drive back to NY, they are of course bombarded with messages, likes, replies, etc. A lot of people are very upset that they did not allow the public a look at the new Princess. 

They receive a call from Queen Mary, of course, who is very displeased about how they announced Charlotte’s birth and the fact that they refuse to have her in the public eye, but Henry and Alex absolutely refuse to back down. 

By the time they arrive home 4 hours later, they’re both exhausted beyond words. Charlotte is already fast asleep in her carrier, so very very carefully, Alex lifts her from the carrier and settles her in her co-sleeper by he and Henry’s bed, before he and Henry collapse into bed, asleep almost as soon as their heads hit the pillows.

****1 YEAR LATER****

It is a hot July night in 2025 and Alex and Henry have just had a very long and busy, but absolutely amazing day, celebrating Charlotte’s first birthday with their friends and family. 

Despite eating all the sugar she could get her little hands on, Charlotte has finally crashed and as of 10:00 P.M. is sound asleep tucked up between Henry and Alex. 

“I still can’t believe how perfect she is, it’s been a whole year of loving her and being her papa and I still can’t believe how damn lucky I am.” Alex sighs happily, stroking Charlotte’s cheek as her little chest rises and falls with each breath. 

“Me neither, I understand why Philip and Martha always say their lives improved ten fold when Eddie and George came along, I can’t fathom that there was ever a day we didn’t have our sweet Lottie.” 

Alex hms in agreement, pressing a kiss to Charlotte’s forehead. There’s a comfortable silence for a few minutes, before Alex looks up at Henry and quietly says 

“I want another baby.” Henry grins and reaches over to entwine his hand with Alex’s. 

“Me too, lets talk to Sierra in the morning?” Alex grins widely and nods. 

“Love you H.” 

“Love you too Alex.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Just want to say here that The Parenting Academy Podcast is heavily inspired by 'If These Ovaries Could Talk' by Robin Hopkins and Jamie Kelton, you should for sure check it out! 
> 
> (Also, anyone pick up the reference to Jamie Clayton's name? Let me know if you did!)


End file.
